Chuck vs the Fool
by Notorious JMG
Summary: Chuck seems to have lost his memory... but all is not as it seems. One-shot.


_**Author's Note:** this story takes place in the _Seduction/Star-Spangled/Bright Side _timeline. If given a place in that timeline, it takes place between Chapters Four and Five of _Chuck vs. the Bright Side of Life_, and about a month after _The Star-Spangled Intersect_._

* * *

It was just another one of those days for Chuck Bartowski.

He often told himself he should have a blog. The only problem was, it wouldn't be that entertaining. "Got up. Drank coffee. Went to work. Dealt with jerks. Went home. Played Call of Duty. End of day."

But this Tuesday… well, today was gonna be one for the record books.

Nobody was gonna see THIS coming.

* * *

John Casey stood impatiently outside the Bartowski apartment. He had rung the doorbell three times now

Finally, Ellie Bartowski answered the door. Her hair was wet, and she had a robe on – it was pretty apparent she'd been dragged out of the shower.

"John?" she said, surprised to see him at the door. "What's going on?"

"Your brother seems to have left without me," Casey growled. "Do you happen to know what's going on?"

Ellie shook her head. "I have no idea," she replied. "I knew he had left early today, but I just assumed that you were either going with him then, or that you had made other arrangements."

Casey grunted something unintelligible and returned back to his apartment to figure out how to take the bus from the apartment to work.

An hour and fifteen minutes and two buses later, a very pissed off John Casey arrived at the Buy More. Who KNEW that it could take that long to get from Echo Park to Burbank?!

The worst part had been riding the L.A. Metro #92 bus. That had just been sheer hell for the NSA Agent.

"Where's Bartowski?" he growled at Morgan as he hobbled into the big electronics store.

"He's in the cage, fixing computers," Morgan replied. "But you can't go back there!"

Casey looked at Morgan with what people often described as "the crazy eyes". "And exactly why not?"

"Because he's in his zone, man. He's crankin' out computer repairs like you would not believe, and if you interrupt him, Big Mike will have your nuts for breakfast."

Casey gritted his teeth and tried not to scream. Yep, interrupting Bartowski would be a bad idea, because if Big Mike got pissy with Casey, then the NSA would have to find him a new cover job, and that was not something that would make General Beckman very happy.

With a series of meaningless grunts, he crutched off. Maybe he could move another Beastmaster. That would make him happy.

* * *

Chuck didn't show up for lunch. That worried Sarah a little. The thing was, she wasn't sure if it worried her more because he wasn't there, or because she had this irrational notion that he could be somewhere with another woman.

_Stop it!_ she ordered herself. She knew that couldn't be the case. After all, he had told her that he was in love with her, not a month before, in Arizona. Hadn't he?

But when Scooter returned toward the end of Chuck's lunch hour and he hadn't come over yet, she decided to check on it herself. Telling Scooter that she hadn't had her lunch break yet, Sarah hurriedly departed the store and jogged over to the Buy More.

She was winded when she entered the store, a sign to her that she still hadn't completely recovered from her injuries in Utah. _Got to get back in shape, Walker_, she mentally reprimanded herself.

When she walked into the Buy More, though, she didn't see Chuck. Who she DID see, however, was Morgan. She made a beeline for him.

"Morgan," she said softly as she approached him.

"Oh, hey Sarah!" he replied brightly as he turned to face her. "What's up?"

"Have you seen Chuck?"

"Yeah," Morgan replied. "He's back in the cage, fixing the whole list of back orders. Why?"

"He didn't come over for lunch."

Morgan's eyes widened, and he smacked himself in the forehead. "Dammit, he was probably expecting me to remind him!" he groaned. "He's gonna be so pissed about missing lunch with you!"

Sarah looked at him quizzically. "Morgan, it's a corndog and fries. I don't think he's gonna be THAT pissed."

"No, no," Morgan explained. "He's gonna be pissed that he didn't get to spend any time with you."

Then, without warning, Morgan turned and sprinted toward the stock room. Sarah, caught off guard, moved quickly to follow. As she entered the stock room, she could hear Morgan talking to Chuck.

"Dude, I'm so sorry, I forgot to remind you to go have lunch with Sarah."

"What?"

"You didn't go have lunch with Sarah."

"Who?"

That one word hit Sarah like a runaway freight train. _Who?!_

"You know, hot blonde, works at the Wienerlicious… your girlfriend…"

"Morgan, I have no idea what you're talking about."

A rush of anger mixed with betrayal flooded through Sarah, and she came around the corner to the cage, fury in her eyes.

"THAT – Sarah," Morgan elaborated, pointing.

Chuck looked up, and his stare was curiously vacant. "Dude, I've never seen her before in my life."

Sarah's jaw dropped. She didn't know whether to slap him or run away crying. Her body made the decision for her, as she stomped out of the stock room, tears beginning to stream down her face.

Seeing that, Chuck jumped up and chased her out of the stock room. "Ma'am? Excuse me, ma'am? I'm really sorry, I didn't mean…"

She stopped dead, and then turned around. As he stopped in front of her, she hauled off and slapped him. Then, grabbing him by the ear, she dragged him in the direction of the home theatre lounge.

Lester and Jeff watched from the safety of the Nerd Herd desk. "Dude, here we go again," Lester said quietly.

"She's a maneater," Jeff replied.

"Oh, oh here she comes," Lester agreed.

Once safely inside the home theatre lounge, Sarah really let loose. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" she hissed.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," Chuck replied.

"I'm your girlfriend, you son of a bitch!" Sarah snapped. She was REALLY getting mad now. "Don't you remember? You met me months ago, you have the Intersect in your head, you were kidnapped in February, and I came to rescue you, and admitted that I was in love with you?"

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like a fascinating tale, but really…"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. Then it occurred to her. She could force him to have a flash. "Longshore," she said.

And Chuck's eyes took on that curiously vacant stare again. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about. If you'll excuse me, I really need to get back to work."

With that, he walked out of the home theatre lounge, and headed back to the stock room. Sarah watched him go in disbelief.

As soon as he was back in the back, though, she dashed out of the home theatre lounge. She found Casey, and dragged him into the lounge, which Jeff and Lester watched with no small amusement. "Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up," Lester said.

"Oh, oh, here she comes," Jeff replied.

"I think there's something wrong with Chuck," Sarah said to Casey as soon as they were in the lounge.

"Aside from the fact that he's a total putz who left me without a ride to work this morning, why exactly would that be?"

"He didn't give you a ride to work today?"

Casey shook his head. "I had to take the goddamn bus."

Sarah's face was changing from angry to concerned. "I think we may have a problem," she said finally.

"What sort of problem, exactly?" Casey asked.

"I think Chuck's memory has somehow been wiped," Sarah replied, her voice now taking on a worried tone. "He forgot to give you a ride to work this morning, he claims to not even remember me, and he doesn't seem to remember the Intersect."

Casey's eyes widened. "We need to inform Washington."

"No!" Sarah hissed. "If they think he's lost his memory, but he still has the Intersect data floating around up there, they might give us a termination order."

Casey rolled his eyes. "Like they'd do that after Utah."

"You think it's completely outside the realm of possibility?" Sarah asked. "Although, they have to realize, that if they give somebody the order to terminate Chuck, I will terminate that individual. That includes you."

Casey smirked. "Bring it on."

Then he grew serious again. "We need to figure this out somehow," he said. "Call Ellie and Devin, have them meet us at their apartment. I'll grab Morgan, we'll go over there."

* * *

About half an hour later, Chuck came out of the stock room, looking for Morgan. When he didn't find him anywhere, he approached the Nerd Herd desk. "Hey guys, where's Morgan?"

Lester looked at him. "Dude, he jetted out of here about twenty minutes ago with John and your girlfriend… although that looked like a fairly vicious encounter you had with Sarah earlier."

A blank look appeared on Chuck's face. "Who?"

Before Lester could answer him, though, Chuck had turned and was heading to the door. Once out the door, he jogged across the parking lot to his Herder.

Chuck headed home and parked the Herder out front. He ran around the back of the apartment building, opened the Morgan door, and boosted himself up and through the window. He crossed his bedroom to the door, cracked it open a little, and looked out.

Sarah, Casey, and Morgan were all in the living room, talking to Ellie and Devin. "I think he's lost his memory," Sarah was saying, sounding like she was about to cry. "He doesn't remember me, he doesn't remember Casey, he doesn't –"

She stopped, and pointed at her head. Morgan still didn't know about that, but Ellie and Devin caught on immediately. Ellie, too, looked like she was about to cry.

"Sarah, I'm sure this is just temporary, I'm sure he'll be fine," said Ellie, not sounding very convincing, as she stood and embraced the younger woman.

When Chuck saw Sarah's shoulders beginning to shake, that was all he could take. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he called, opening the door and walking down the hallway.

Everybody whirled and looked at him. "You're SORRY?!" Ellie gasped. "What the hell?"

Chuck smiled weakly. "Uh, April Fools'?"

Nobody appeared to be amused, least of all Sarah, who stomped down the hallway, hauled off, and smacked Chuck even harder than she had earlier at the Buy More. "How COULD you?!" she screamed. "You had me so worried!"

"Sarah, Sarah!" Chuck said, ignoring the pain in his cheek. "Seriously, if I had thought that it would worry you guys or hurt you, I never would've done it! I just thought… I thought it would be funny!"

Sarah still looked mad as hell, but behind her, Casey began to chuckle. "You know," he said, "I have to admit, as far as April Fools' jokes go, that was pretty well done, Bartowski."

Sarah turned and looked at Casey in disbelief. "Oh, come on, Walker!" he exclaimed. "It was! And you saw that as soon as he realized that it had gone wrong, he called it off! Give the man a break!"

She turned back to Chuck, whose face had turned to a look of pleading. "Seriously, Sarah. I love you. You know that. I would never do anything to hurt you. I just thought… I just thought an April Fools' joke might be fun."

Sarah sighed as Chuck wrapped his arms around her, unable to resist the urge to return the hug. "I know," she sighed, letting herself melt into his embrace. "But if you ever do it again, I'll shoot you."


End file.
